Date: Mon, 23 Sept 1996 Subject: The Saga of a Steel Magnolia in Utah

Hi All,

Well, Friday arrived in a whirl of anticipation. I got home after work expecting to load the truck and head south pronto quicko. Not so. Katherine needed me to send a big file home to Tbear. As usual, when the going gets tough, Netscape craps out. (grin) Not only did the blasted thing GPF (that's giant program failure in my book), but it took my winsock with it. It took me a while to get everything back in shape and then send the file. We were late leaving, very late. What else is new?

We drove south on I-15 in the darkness until the moon came up. Then it was like driving with a spotlight shining in your face. The sky was clear and the stars bright. I stopped in Fillmore and we set up camp for the night.

Saturday arrived with a glorious blaze of color across a clear blue sky. The drive south took us through the burned out zones where the wildfires had been earlier in the month. It was unbelievable. The immense devastation of the fires gave us goose bumps to see. Hopefully the land will recover soon. We went south to Parowan and then east over to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Cedar Breaks sits at 10,000 feet of elevation and the view was spectacular. It was also cold with the remains of last nights snow on the ground. This Monument closes in another two weeks, or so, due to severe weather. The quality of the air here is crisp and cold and the colors of the rocks range from deep red to an almost iridescent white to a light yellow. We hiked around a little, it was too muddy and snowy to do much walking. The alpine meadows still have flowers and it's beautiful here. The Bristlecone pines have a neat silvery gray, smooth bark and are not at all like the rough pines of Georgia. We saw the 1600+ year old Bristlecone pines, too. Amazing. I also have decided that I really like Aspens, they are beautiful trees. Katherine and I had lunch in the picnic area. We sat in the sunshine, wrapped up to be sure, and watched the chipmunks skitter around the clearing. One stripped little guy must have made a hundred orbits while we ate, amazing. It was hard to get up and leave, the peace and quiet are wonderful here.

The drive to Bryce Canyon National Park wound slowly through some beautiful valleys. There were groves of Aspen trees with their white bark gleaming in the sunshine, their leaves shining and whistling in the wind. As we looked closer at the trees, we saw that they were sitting in huge lava beds. Mile after mile of lava beds. We couldn't resist...we had to stop and look. So I pulled the truck over onto the side of the road and out we got...rock hammers at the ready. Wow. The lava beds were twisted, gnarled, huge chunks of black porous rock. We used the hammers to pry a little and look at the rocks and try to see how deep the layer was. No luck. The lava was really deep. Back we went on the road to Bryce. A picture is worth a thousand words...yes? What do you get when you see a Suburban parked on the side of the road with a youngster heading up the hill into the trees? A trip to the wilderness! We laughed and went on our way. This is a marvelously scenic area. The mountains are covered with trees and you can't see the canyons until you are right there. Presto, you break out of the trees and there the red rocks are. It's magic.

We got to Bryce Canyon by mid day and had to decide if we would stay the night. I voted to stay, Katherine voted to leave. She said that she didn't want to camp where you could see other people. She's spoiled. Most of her camping experience is in the back country where you really don't see many people. Well, we drove around and stopped at the view points to see the spires and canyons. It's too big to comprehend. Simply too much indeed. Actually, it's better than the Grand Canyon, I think. The Grand Canyon is so big that you can't even begin to get the scale fixed in your mind. But here, you get the same coloration and rock formations on a smaller scale. Now, the scale it relative. The cliffs go on for miles, and in some places go from horizon to horizon. Well, we decided to stay and see more of the park. We set up camp in the campground with lots of our closest friends and several mule deer. The sites were really nice, and not too close, but you could see other people. Katherine put up the tent and I started the charcoal going. We were very careful with the camp site. It's very dry and the threat of fire is too close to be comfortable. Katherine's menu for the evening was baked Cornish game hens with stuffing, salad, and chocolate parfait for desert. Unfortunately the stuffing (and the chicken) bit the dirt (literally...ooops!). But, Katherine gave the hen a bath in the ladies room sink. Upon returning she said that the chicken did a reasonable Batman impression, even cape-less. No problemo, we went to 'plan b' and used some of the Himalayan rice that I had in the supplies to make more stuffing. I love camping. Everything turned out fabulously. We sat out and watched the stars shine through the darkness and sipped cocoa. The moon was about half full, but it looked like a spotlight. Even with that much light, the stars are still blazing across the sky in a glittering river of diamonds pouring across layers on layers of navy velvet. The wind came up while we sat and watched the stars, so it was time to get inside. The weather report at the Welcome Center forecast a clear and cold 26 degrees for Saturday night. Perfect sleeping weather.

The weather may have been perfect for sleeping, but at 5:00 in the morning, even I didn't want to get up and start the fire. But I did. I got Katherine up with a cup of Jasmine tea at 6:00. My standard breakfast of eggs, bacon and Katherine's bread was good in the chill air. We broke camp and were on our way before it got late. We went over to Sunrise Point to watch the sun come up. Another Wow. The sun comes over the mountains in the east as the clouds change color from periwinkle to crimson, pink and finally golden; the rocks turn from a dull brown to a glorious red. The sandstone is in layers out here, that's why you see the different colors. White sandstone sits on top of the red. Red sandstone sits on yellow. It's magic, it really is.

Next, we drove 18 miles to out to Rainbow Point. Rainbow Point is the end of the road in the park and a special place. You get there by a winding, twisting road that goes up and down through fantastic scenery. Speed limit about 30 mph, less is some places. Then, you get to the good spot. Again, it's magic. The erosion by wind and water have made this an unbelievable spectacle of turrets, spires, arches, and canyons. We stood and looked for quite a while. On the drive back, we stopped at every viewing area and filled ourselves with the beauty of the land. Food for the soul is what it is.

We left Bryce Canyon with plans to come back and hike the trails.

Our next destination was Escalante, and then Boulder. On the road to Escalante we drove right through the canyon area. Fantastic is a pale word for this area. This is a desert, but the amount and variety of life out here is incredible. It is slow going in some places and then you go around a corner and you have miles of straight road in front of you. If you look at the hills, it looks like someone spray painted the rock in layers of white, red, yellow. Farther up, there were seams of black. Again, it was too much. We had to stop and look. I pulled the truck into a gully and stopped. Being a good scout, I looked at the soil before heading up the hill. I didn't want to disturb any of the fragile areas. We were in luck and it was okay to scramble up the hill. The first 100 feet was a gentle slope covered with sticky, thorny plants just waiting to reach out and bite you in the butt. We managed to pick most of the thorns off before we went farther. Then, the going got rough. It got steep fairly quick. The slope wasn't the problem though. When you look at the hills, they seem to be layers of rock. Not so. They are actually covered with sand. The sand has the texture of fine talc and it is very difficult to get decent footing. It shifts under the slightest pressure, and is filled with lots of tiny crevices and holes convenient for hiding creatures. The huge slabs of rocks covering the slopes are so brittle that they crumble in your hands. When you step on what looks like solid rock, you can get a big surprise. I don't know why the whole area hasn't melted down into multi-colored sand pile a million years ago. Oh well, Katherine made it up first. She got a small sample the black stuff. It is coal. But not what we would have thought. It looked like the crumbly stuff that you find around ant hills and won't even burn even if you did try to light it (we didn't). Okay, back down the hill. Not as easy as it looks though, and back through the thorny stuff one more time. We were happy though. After all, this is an adventure.

We turned onto the Burr Trail in Boulder. This leads over to the Capital Reef National Park. The two lane road quickly became a lane and a half road, but it was paved. The country is increasingly rough. We wound our way up and over hills and into steep canyons with crystal clear streams running through them. The steep canyon walls are red rock and in some places the erosion makes the cliff face look like lace, or maybe Swiss cheese, fat free of course. Speed is maybe 25 mph if you are in a hurry. At one point we drove up a mesa and over the ridge (which was exactly a lane and a half wide) and through some beautiful grazing land. The paved road ended when we reached the National Park boundary. Now it gets rough big time. We are back on washboard row. When we weren't bumping and rattling over rocks, we were sliding through the fine red sand. Great fun! Well, we finally came to the really fun part of the drive. The road descends down a cliff face in a series of absolutely closed hairpin turns. It's dirt, it's a lane wide, and I can't wait to drive down it. We passed two cars while going down the cliff. No problem. They dug out wide spots in the cliff and the turns had some spare room. They were coming up, so it was a piece of cake for us. Total elevation loss was probably 1000 feet. Needless to say the view was unbelievable, like looking at a masterpiece painting. We stopped at nearly every switch back and got out to look around. The dirt is like red Georgia clay and we felt right at home, but it was interesting because when you looked up at the road, you could hardly see where it was. Interesting optical illusion. All too soon, we were at the bottom. The next leg of the road was just plain desert. Katherine drove so that I could check the maps and look at the mesa's. She did fairly well after she told me to be quiet and just let her drive. Said she didn't need a right seat pilot...kids.

We are now driving north along nearly the entire length of Capital Reef. It is magnificent. It seems endless. The clouds have gathered for an afternoon shower, some of it even hit the ground. Most of them looked like great smears of cotton with wispy tendrils reaching down to touch the ground. I took over after about 30 miles. The rains must have been heavier here, the sand was getting really slippery. The showers were traveling in the same direction as we were, so it worked out well for us because we didn't have the dust to deal with. It took a while to get back to the pavement, but it was worth the drive.

We headed back west to I-15 through the beautiful canyons and valleys. The tiny mule deer are everywhere. They look like fragile creatures, but I didn't want to have one of them plastered on the front of my truck. We stopped and looked at 1000 year old rock carvings along the way. Another Wow!

By now it is getting dark. We are still a long way from the freeway. It has been a long weekend and we are nearly numb from seeing so much beauty. It is hard to absorb so much in so little time. We didn't regret any of it. The drive back was hard and dark, and we were tired puppies as we unloaded the truck.

On reflection, I can say that this is a truly special land and that I have been privileged to see it. My only regret is that Tbear and Tigger aren't here to share in the beauty that surrounds us. Bit1 and I miss them and hope to see them soon. But, until then...

Take care and write when you can.

Jan Noble, steel_magnolia@mindspring.com

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